Nov. 30, 1942: Saying “My hands are trembling all over this typewriter keyboard,” Associated Press writer Harry C. Glasheen writes of his experiences covering Boston’s Cocoanut Grove fire, which had a final death toll of 492 people, including Western movie star Buck Jones.

It is a bitter irony that Buck Jones had a lifelong fear of fire and of dying in a fire. When he built his dream house out in the Valley (Magnolia Blvd? Chandler?) it was built to be as near fire-proof as then current building methods would allow.

It is true that Buck Jones built his house out of cement to make it as fireproof as possible because of his fear of fire. The house was on the southeast corner of Magnolia Blvd. and Hazeltine Avenue in Sherman Oaks. See my Mar-Ken School website (the school later was located in his house) for a photograph of this beautiful building, and some more history.http://www.mar-ken.org/history/joneshouse.html

After that banner cinema year of 1939, the war took its toll on high quality movies with an international appeal. Yes, some were still made despite the sudden shrinkage of ‘the foreign market’, but there were far fewer of them.

No, it was owned by a hoodlum named Welansky, who packed the place and locked/bricked up doors to keep people in. Welansky was convicted of manslaughter and served four years until being pardoned by his crony Governor Tobin, who had been mayor of Boston at the time of the fire. Welansky died shortly after being pardoned.

Barbara Walter’s father owned the Latin Quarter in NYC and worked at the Tropicana in Vegas.

I read a book about that fire that said right afterwards, some papers tried to make Buck Jones look more heroic by claiming he had rushed back in to rescue people. But in reality the poor bastard died (well, was fatally burned, died later in hosp.) right at his table, never had a chance to get out.